Scotland’s Grant Forrest continued his good record at the Open de Espana to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend.
Forrest, who was at five-under-par alongside fellow Scotsman Conner Syme and Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra at the end of Thursday’s play, carded a four-under second-round 67 to move to nine under and open a one-stroke lead at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Syme shot a second-round 68 and sits in joint-second place with Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, who rolled in five consecutive birdies from the fourth hole on the way to his 66.
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“It was a really good score in the end,” said Forrest, who has twice finished tied third in Spain’s national open, in 2021 and 2024, and has never missed the cut across his six previous appearances.
“I didn’t have my best stuff on our first five or six holes, but made a couple of really nice par saves to keep the momentum going, and then I just managed to make quite a few birdies.
“Started driving it well the last 12 holes and delighted with four under. I probably didn’t play quite as well as yesterday.
“Obviously, I had a couple of good scores there [over past two days].
“It’s hard to know when a day like Thursday will come when you shoot five under for nine holes and you fly up the board, or today was a bit more plodding along and then a couple came towards the end. I’m just going to keep the foot down.”
Eugenio Chacarra, who is playing on home soil with a fractured toe, and England’s Joe Dean are both at eight under, with Danish duo Jacob Skov Olesen and Jeff Winther a shot further back, alongside French pair Martin Couvra and Victor Perez and New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier.
Patrick Reed, who has led the Race to Dubai Rankings since February, missed the cut and Chacarra would leapfrog both Rory McIlroy and the American with a victory on Sunday.
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